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“Everyone. Not just those guys out there today but even our own team,” she went on. “This was too far out of left field. We literally can’t trust anyone until we start pinning those guys to someone or something.”
“Jesus. What happened?” Wit asked. “Tell me the truth. What did you hear about me, Aye? What did you find that brought you to me?”
Ayelish was silent.
Wit reached for her hand, and his voice dropped to a near whisper. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Anyone can flip, Wit, when the stakes are right.”
“And what are the stakes? What do you think will make our own team flip?”
“My family is solid. You know that,” she said. “You can trust the O’Reilly clan.”
“I can trust the others too.”
“We don’t know that. Not anymore.”
“Ayelish…”
“There’s a bounty on you, Wit,” she blurted. “Only payable if you’re brought inalive.”
“Alive? Well, that’s promising,” Wit teased.
“Wit,” she scolded. “This is serious.”
“I know…” he said. “I know.”
“You’re the key to something, and someone wants you for it. Is there anything you can think of that…”
“Darlin’, I guarantee you I don’t have anything anyone wants. My greatest gift is how I handle a weapon, a woman, and a bullet to the chest and whip up a batch of soup, and that can’t be worth much.”
She paused and let out a deep sigh as she mustered up the words, going with direct. “Try twenty-five million dollars.”
7
Stunned,Wit stilled until he finally let out a slow and low whistle.
“Exactly,” she said in response as if that whistle told an entire story.
Wit stood and returned to watching out the window while Ayelish moved to stand by the roaring fire. The room was dark other than the light from that small controlled blaze in the fireplace and maybe the light emanating from the open laptop she’d left sitting on the coffee table.
“Where’d you get those pictures?” Wit said, looking only halfway over his shoulder, his finger still hooked and holding back the curtain ever so slightly.
“Killion’s drone footage. I knew he had to have one up. He always does,” she admitted. “So I had my own program running and pulling everything I could from his little eye in the sky.”
“You hacked your brother?” Wit chuckled. “He’s going to figure out you’re with me and use it to come find us.”
“Nah. He’s not the only brains in the family. I left a distraction for him to chase while I used his drone. We will be in contact by the time he figures it out.” She giggled. “I shut off optics on his end. The drone was recording all along, and I took the footage so we could see what we were up against.”
“And those still images are all you have?” Wit asked.
“I have video feed. That’s where I got the stills from…” She stalled. “Do you… want to see it? Since you couldn’t at the time? Maybe you’ll notice something I didn’t?”
“This is really going to piss Killion off,” Wit said, grabbing the laptop and moving to stand next to her at the fireplace.
“I know. It’s going to be great.” She giggled. “He’s too serious and needs to lighten up. This will do it when he sees the little message I left him. Some people play board games for fun. This is fun for him.”
“Y’all are a crazy bunch,” Wit said, hitting play on the waiting video. “Him being serious is what keeps us all alive. The security measures he has in place. Did you know he has a program that even monitors our vitals from our smartwatches, so he knows if anyone is in trouble?”
